State Court Rejects Der Appeal Against Chrin Landfill Action

May 23, 1985|The Morning Call

Commonwealth Court on Monday dismissed an appeal by the state Department of Environmental Resources that asked for the dismissal of a Chrin landfill appeal now before the state Environmental Hearing Board.

The ruling by Judge John MacPhail clears the way for additional hearings on the landfill's appeal to continue Tuesday as scheduled. The state had asked for a stay of the hearings while the court considered the appeal.

DER attorney James D. Morris said yesterday the order issued by MacPhail denied the state's request for the dismissal of an April order by Environmental Hearing Board Judge Anthony J. Mazullo Jr. that consolidated a landfill appeal of the state's July closure order and an appeal alleging state inaction on a 10-acre expansion request. Morris said the appeals from the consolidation order were dismissed because the issues were deemed interlocutory, or not final.

MacPhail also dismissed a state appeal of Mazullo's December order allowing the landfill to continue operating past the state-ordered Dec. 31 closure date. According to Morris, MacPhail essentially said the appeal came too late.

Morris said he has filed additional motions before Mazullo that include a request for a dismissal of the current appeal hearings.

Chrin attorney William Eastburn of Doylestown said he "would have been amazed" if the court had done anything else but dismiss the state's appeal. "It's absolutely and clearly interlocutory," he said. "The court had no choice."